The French are upset that Roman Polanski, the fugitive child rapist, has been detained by Swiss authorities at the request of the U.S. government. The Justice Department wants Polanski extradited because he fled America for France to avoid jail time. Other people have properly condemned the French government for wanting to defend this sleazeball, who anally raped a 13-year old girl, but I have a different complaint. French politicians are the leading agitators for the OECD campaign against so-called tax havens. According to Sarkozy and company, low-tax jurisdictions should be obliged to enforce the punitive tax laws of OECD member nations. Yet France refused to send Polanski back to America because it did not feel any need to help enforce America’s laws against molesting and raping children. I’m glad Polanski was dumb enough to travel to Switzerland. I’m glad the Swiss authorities had the moral decency to detain Polanski. And I’m overjoyed the French are getting a taste of the medicine their trying to impose on others.

P.S. The last sentence is a horribly flawed comparison on my part. It is a good thing when nations cooperate to investigate and prosecute criminals who violate the rules of all civilized societies. It is not a good thing, however, for high-tax nations to try to impose their tax laws on economic activity that takes place in low-tax jurisdictions. In other words, France is trying to coerce international cooperation where it is not appropriate, but is fighting international cooperation to protect child rape. Amazing.

P.P.S. The French also give protection to murderers who escape America. The French government position (shared by all European Union nations!) is that it will not extradite murderers to the United States if they might face the death penalty.